City Facts about Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included Praga mater urbium/Praha matka měst ("Prague – Mother of Cities") in Latin/Czech, Stověžatá Praha ("City of a Hundred Spires") in Czech or Zlaté město/Goldene Stadt ("Golden City") in Czech/German.
Situated on the Vltava River in central Bohemia, Prague has been the political, cultural and economic centre of the Czech state for more than 1100 years. For many decades during the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was the permanent seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus was also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Today, the city proper is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 1.9 million. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, making the city one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, receiving more than 4.1 million international visitors annually.
Prague is traditionally one of the cultural centres of Europe, hosting many cultural events. There are hundreds of concert halls, galleries, cinemas and music clubs in the city. Prague hosts Music Festivals including the Prague Spring International Music Festival, the Prague Autumn International Music Festival and the Prague International Organ Festival. Film festivals include the Febiofest, the One World and Echoes of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Prague also hosts the Prague Writers' Festival, the Summer Shakespeare Festival, the Prague Fringe Festival, the World Roma Festival as well as hundreds of Vernissages and fashion shows.

City Facts about Vienna

The Bob Cole Conservatory Choir is going to visit Vienna during the Performance Tour 2010. Incantato Tours discovered some interesting facts about the Austrian city:

Vienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million (2.3 million within the metropolitan area, more than 25% of Austria's population), and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by population in the European Union. Vienna is host to many major international organizations such as the United Nations and OPEC. Vienna lies in the east of Austria and is close to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Founded around 500 BC, Vienna was originally a Celtic settlement. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2005 an Economist Intelligence Unit study of 127 world cities ranked it first equal with Vancouver for the quality of life. This assessment was mirrored by the Mercer Survey in 2009.
Art and culture have a long tradition in Vienna, including theater, opera, classical music and fine arts. The Burgtheater is considered one of the best theaters in the German-speaking world alongside its branch, the Akademietheater. The Volkstheater Wien and the Theater in der Josefstadt also enjoy good reputations. There is also a multitude of smaller theaters, in many cases devoted to less mainstream forms of performing arts, such as modern, experimental plays or cabaret.
Vienna is also home to a number of opera houses, including the Theater an der Wien, the Staatsoper and the Volksoper, the latter being devoted to the typical Viennese operetta. Classical concerts are performed at well known venues such as the Wiener Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Wiener Konzerthaus. Many concert venues offer concerts aimed at tourists, featuring popular highlights of Viennese music (particularly the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss).
In recent years, the Theater an der Wien has become widely known for hosting premieres of musicals, although it has recently devoted itself to the opera again. The most successful musical by far was "Elisabeth", which was later translated into several other languages and performed all over the world. The Haus der Musik ("house of music") opened in 2000.

Your Home away from Home: Hotel Lunik in Prague

Have a look at your 2010 Performance Tour home in Prague on this website. You will love the central location and modern touches with all the comforts of a 4 star hotel, but at a great 3 star price.

Cheap flights around Europe

For those of you planning on traveling around Europe after the completion of the tour:
You have a few options for getting around.

Bus, train, and air are the most common. Buses are alright, but since most people will be planning to go from large city to large city, that option is not likely available or desirable.

Eurail is alright, but extremely time consuming and quite uncomfortable in long shots. I once took a 20-hour train ride from Budapest to Amsterdam-- not recommended. Generally speaking, you don't want to take a train ride that will be longer than 7 hours or you will drive yourself crazy. And just so you know, Berlin to Paris is 9 hours, Berlin to Amsterdam is 6.5 hours, Berlin to Copenhagen 7 hours, Berlin to Warsaw 6 hours, etc. Even Frankfurt is 4 hours, Munich 6. That's a lot of missed time sightseeing. That being said, if you have a scenic train route planned (e.g. crossing the Alps), it's well worth the time. Also, Eurail passes are somewhat challenging to decide which package is right for you, and sometimes you end up paying for train rides that you don't use.

Which brings me to why flight is the way to go. The cost of rail and flight is not all that different, plus with flights you have the added bonus of not having to worry about buying all in one go. easyJet.com, for example, has flights for about €40 to almost any major European city. Some even have flights available to several North African cities for the more adventurous types (Marrakech, Casablanca, Tangier, Cairo, Luxor, Tunis). With taxes and fuel costs, it comes out to about $80-$100. Well worth it. Here is a link to a list of cheap local airlines. Do some research-- don't just take the first one because it seems low. You could find lower.

I would like to stress one point: do NOT use RyanAir. While the low, low prices are tempting, your flight can and may be cancelled at any time, even if it's 5 minutes before your scheduled flight time. No refund, no reschedule. Just CANCELLED. The customer service is miserable, and good luck trying to find another quick flight out when the rest of the plane is doing the same thing. Their basic philosophy is "You pay nothing, so we give you nothing." Here is one guy's explanation of why he'll never fly with them either.

This is all based on my own personal experience of planning extended tours, so if you have any questions, please ask. I'd be happy to help.

Happy planning!
Gregorio

Great news for all you of you planning to stay longer in Europe

Dear singers and guests of the 2010 CSULB Performance Tour.
As you know, Incantato is holding 45 seats from LAX to Vienna (VIE) and back from Berlin (TXL) for your group at a very good price. After our meeting, we contacted our airline partner Lufthansa LH to advise that a lot of you would like to stay longer in Europe and asked if it is possible for them to change the restrictions on deviations. They came back with wonderful news and the following offer to all members of your tour: Anyone that chooses the LH air-land package and would like to extend the return from Berlin (be it by a day, two days, a week, even a month), can do so for a change fee of $75 per person and date change.
We think that is a pretty amazing deal as Berlin is home to many low cast European carriers such as Ryanair, Easyjet, AirBerlin etc. as well as centrally located for everyone planning to get a EuroRail pass. This offer from Lufthansa is subject to availability of seats on the plane at your preferred return date, so we ask you to contact us soon so we can pass your request on. You CANNOT return from another city and be part of the air-land package. If you choose this option you need to make your way back to Berlin for the return to LAX.

Should you wish to extend your return from Berlin (TXL), please email to info@incantatotours.com clearly stating the following in the subject line:
CSULB Tour - your name as it is printed in your passport - LH extension from Berlin and the date you want to return
After your request has been approved, we will notify you and upon receipt of the $75 change fee as a check payment made out to Incantato within 5 business days of the approval, you will get a confirmation notice.  Remember that every subsequent change costs $75.
We are thrilled to offer you this option in addition to the regular group airfare and are passing on the exact amount Lufthansa is charging us and thus appreciate your cooperation to follow the procedures as outlined above.

Travel Insurance

Incantato Tours strongly recommend getting travel insurance for your upcoming journey. Not only are you covered medically should anything happen when traveling, but with TravelGuard's policies, you also protect your investment should you have to cancel or interrupt the trip. Last not least, there is also coverage for delayed and lost luggage etc.
Here is a direct line to purchase travel insurance online and can you do so with your credit cards and also select the option that is best for you.

Want to blog for the tour?

Dear Singers, let your CSULB tour coordinator Christina know if you want to become a blogger so she can send you an invite to do so. If you already have a gmail account, it will be a piece of cake, if not, you will need to create one which is not that difficult either. It was great meeting you all last week and I look forward to being in touch more in the months leading up to this exciting journey.
Auf Wiedersehen, Sandra